ROUNDTABLE: Remakes and sequels

Cherokee: A conversation about artist integrity will always be a thing for every creative industry because it is a business. But I think a line needs to be drawn as to what should be remade. Remakes are coming thick and fast even outside of Hollywood (independent films do this too).

Example in point: less then a decade after Spiderman 3 comes out another one has been made.

Mel: For me it’s usually which one I see first….

Cherokee: That’s a massive property which was completely not needed. And if you were going to do it, take a different approach for the love of god

Mel: Yeah Spider-Man was really soon? but I love them both so

Chloe: Don’t think the spider-man’s needed to be re-made but now that they have….you can see why.

Cherokee:Especially with films not originally in the English language. Those which are remade are essentially the same thing.

Cherokee:And it’s like, you know I can read subtitles. Why do I need the same story in English when it usually doesn’t work. They also have the tendency to flop, hard.

Chloe: Especially when American laws don’t let films ‘get away’ with such extremities as korea/france/china etc etc it just waters down the experience for me

Mel: Yeah, and for the people who don’t like subtitles, there’s sometimes dubbed versions too. I mean they’re never that good but it’s better than an entire remake

Cherokee: Agreed. There are other avenues to enjoy films not in English, you’re missing out on a different culture too. Some work for their country setting and language and by taking that away, like you said Chloe, waters down the story

Q: SO ARE THERE ANY INSTANCES WHERE YOU PREFER THE REMAKES?

Cherokee: Remakes work if you’re doing something different with the story, you understand the material, or the original was shit. I’m trying to think of a remake I liked actually lol.

Mel: I prefer the Freaky Friday remake, only because there’s a REALLY shady water-skiing scene in the old one (and I REALLY fancy Chad Michael Murray)

Chloe: I love the I Spit On Your Grave 2010 remake more than anything, it just took everything the original already had in place and blew it out of proportion and took it to the extreme, which in a horror case, was a great thing.

I think the most interesting case of remakes has to be anything Baz Luhrmann has done regarding Romeo & Juliet and Gatsby. They are so unique that I don’t actually see them as ‘remakes’ they are just entirely different adaptations. He modernizes the story to bring it forward for a new generation. Same with the 2013 Carrie remake, I wasn’t the biggest fan overall but the attempts at modernizing like including cyber-bullying, smart phones and the like were actually pretty admirable.

Cherokee: I appreciate what Baz tries to do but it never works for me, but I think that boils back to the source material. Gatsby was okay but it felt as if it was too try hard, with the soundtrack in particular.

Has anyone seen Let Me In?

Chloe: Yes! I have seen both and read it!

Cherokee: I loved Let The Right One In saw it when it first came out.

Chloe: Yeah me too! I think Let The Right One In is much more emotionally moving but I love Chloe Moretz a lot so I still enjoyed Let Me In. None of them touch on just how fucked up the book is though, wow.

Q: IS THERE ANY FILMS THAT YOU FEEL SHOULD(‘VE) NEVER BEEN REMADE?

Mel: I feel like movies from really stylised directors or DoP’s or that are known for how they look or are edited shouldn’t really be remade. Imagine ever re-doing Memento or a Fincer or Tarantino movie?!

Chloe: Me too. I could never imagine a remake of a Wes Anderson, or Tarantino like you said. You couldn’t possibly improve on a Fincher movie anyway so that would just be a waste of time.

Mel:…or just any proper classic really. Why would you want to remake something that was already as good as it could be? Like someone remaking The Godfather, or Shawshank?!

Chloe: I think it’s also quite interesting to think about TV shows that have been made into movies and movies made into TV shows like Psycho, Teen Wolf, 21 Jump Street

Mel: Yeah!! Always thought that was interesting

Chloe: Some things just work better on different formats and I think TV shows do it so well, I absolutely LOVE bates motel and how it’s like a Psycho prequel but set in modern day.Then teen wolf was totally turned on its head from some weird light hearted comedy to a dark broody teen fest. And well, 21 jump street is the funniest movie I’ve ever seen in my life, quite sad Ive never seen the show.

Cherokee: I loved 21 jump street

Mel: 21 jump street movie is the greatest thing but I’ve never seen the series either. Did anyone see the Robocop remake?

Chloe: Nope, never seen the original either

Mel: I love the original but it seems like the kinda thing you CAN get away with remaking, like CGI improving and all that… Even though the special effects aren’t even bad for when it was made.

Chloe: I think that’s a major reason why they redo stuff anyway (other than sheer laziness to find cool new screenwriters with original ideas), is CGI, but the thing is, some people absolutely adore how tacky originals can sometimes look and that’s what they wanna cling onto them because childhood memories etc.

Q: WHAT ABOUT SEQUELS THEN? HOW MANY IS TOO MANY? WHAT FRANCHISES HAVE LOST THEIR WAY BECAUSE OF THIS?

Mel: Shrek lost me at 3. I would complain about X-Men if Days of Future Past wasn’t so SPECTACULAR (but apparently The Wolverine wasn’t very good)

Chloe: The worst offenders are 70s/80s horrors: Friday the 13th, A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Halloween. I honestly don’t have a clue which ones I have/n’t see.

High School Musical definitely improved in quality not gonna lie.

Mel: I will love HSM till the day I die

Chloe: Twilight went rapidly downhill but I blame director changes for that cause obviously it was a book series, Hostel 3 should have been burned, Saw went bad after number 5, Fast and Furious movies actually got better and I think the new James Bond movies have got better too.

Mel: I love fast & furious. You’re right about Twilight though, I love the first one but the rest is meh.

Chloe: I’m still incredibly upset that Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging never made it to a franchise stage. Everyone says they hate it but just because they know it’s so god damn relevant (only me? oh)

Mel: Louise Rennison was a goddess to me.

Cherokee: And Angus Thongs… I agree.

Chloe: Honestly never seen such an accurate portrayal of my lie, the eyebrow shaving, the two friends after a guitar fella, honestly it’s all so bang on.

Q: BEST SEQUEL/REMAKE AND WORST SEQUEL/REMAKE?

Mel: I’m ashamed to say (despite Miles Teller) ((and despite my utter hatred for Kevin Bacon)) I did not like the Footloose remake.

Cherokee: Yeah that was bad, although I didn’t really like the first one.

Chloe: Also actually another thing that didn’t get a franchise that I would have liked is a series of unfortunate events that movie was amazing. Footloose remake was pretty bad minus the part during the final dance scene were Miles danced.

Mel: YEAH I could watch Jim Carrey forever. I didn’t read the books but I LOVED that film.

Cherokee: Yes A Series of Unfortunate Events.

Mel: I liked that it was creepy.

Cherokee: The Dark Knight Rises as a sequel. I hated that so much.

Chloe: really?!!!

Mel: I love the entire Chris Nolan Batman trilogy.

Chloe: I say it like every day of my life but I don’t like Batman but I can definitely appreciate those movies and Heath Ledger is just phenomenal, he basically made the entire franchise for me despite his involvement in only 1 film.

Cherokee: I loved The Dark Knight though, just not the closing chapter

Gus Van Sants’ ‘Pyscho’ was pretty bad, and I love the guy as well. It pains me to put him in a bad category.